Monday, January 16, 2012

CHAPEL HILL — At one point earlier today during Roy Williams’ portion of the ACC’s weekly coaches’ teleconference, a reporter opened his question to Williams with this: “Coach, how are you doing?”

To which Williams said, “Not very good but still alive.”

What else could Williams have said two days after his Tar Heels suffered a humiliating 90-57 defeat at Florida State on Saturday? Usually, each coach begins his teleconference with an opening statement before opening it up to questions. When Williams came on the line, he said, “I’d just about as soon just open it up to questions, we were so bad on Saturday.”

Williams hasn’t seen much of his team since Saturday. The Tar Heels flew home. Didn’t practice on Sunday. And then gathered for a team meeting earlier today. So Williams hasn’t had any opportunity to gauge the reaction of his team since the loss against the Seminoles, who gave the Heels their worst beating of Williams’ nine seasons at UNC.

“We haven’t practiced yet,” Williams said. “We had a meeting this morning. As soon as I finish this call, we’ll go practice but I haven’t seen anything that I liked. There is nothing related to Saturday’s game that I liked. And we’ll have to see how we respond in practice today. But the smartest thing I’ve ever done as a coach is not say too much to them, or to not say anything to them until today.

“That’s given me 48 hours.”

So what kind of signs will Williams look to judge whether his team is responding the right way?

“We’ve got to have great practices,” he said. “I mean, we’re not going to go up and beat Virginia Tech just because we lost on Saturday. People say, ‘Oh, they’re going to bounce back.’ Makes no difference. We can go up there and play well and still not be successful. We’ve just got to do a heck of a lot better job.”

After the loss at Florida State, several Tar Heels players questioned their own mental toughness. Williams said his team lacked poise.

The good news, if there is any, is that Williams has coached teams in the past that have developed the kind of mental fortitude that has eluded UNC so far this season.

“We have,” Williams said. “You can go back to last year. We were struggling but down the stretch those guys got tougher and tougher and tougher and hopefully this team will be able to do the same type of thing.”

Roy has begged Coach K to allow him to sit in on some practices to try and get back his Mojo. He and Wake's Coach B can also take some lessons on post blow out commentaries when they are on the short end of the stick.

Roy removed his players based on the request of the FSU coach. If you watch the replay the FSU coach tells Roy to take his players in earlier as the fans were going to rush the court and he did not want any UNC players hurt. I don't think anybody should take anything away from the outstanding play of FSU on Saturday by turning the focus on the last 14 seconds of the game.

Roy is a classless REDNECk jerk. He should have stayed on the court and protected his remaining scrubs on the floor with his bb gun. oh yeah, Ole Roy also said it was his decision in his press conference. Cryolina fans will make an excuse for anything

It was most certainly Roy's idea to remove his team. He made some lame excuse about a female manager getting jostled after the UNLV game. It was a completely classless move. What else would one expect from UNC-CHEAT?

Maybe The tarholes...er...UNC CHEAT,should play a tough nonconference road game once in a while to prep them for a cupcake ACC road game.Ah...that good ole cupcake schedule will get you every time.At least Duke's RPI is #2.UNC CHEAT is waaaaay down the list haha.Duke sweeps the tarholes this year and roy resigns!

someone said UNC should sweep Duke this year.....well get this, they have had the talent to sweep Duke the past 8 seasons but they haven't......and after that FSU blowout, I have my doubts they will sweep duke.

Roy needs 3 times the talent to win it all than most other coaches.

I also agree that the team leaving early was arrogant and disrespectful to FSU, the remaining 5 players for UNC, and goes against the whole point of college athletics.

UNC-Cheat...Blah,Blah, Blah...FSU will beat the Dookies when they visit as well...more physical than the dorks that Dook has. Yes, maybe Ol' Roy was arrogant on Saturday, but afterall we are CAROLINA! Get use to it!! We will reload with McDonalds All-Americans year after year. We'll win another national title before Dook does. Coach K will retire from health problems and Johnny Dawkins will take over. Write that down.

4:17pm Anonymous just reminded everyone why many stereotypes of spoiled, whiny UNC fans are accurate. "Maybe Ol' Roy was arrogant...but we are CAROLINA!" Wow dude, you need to get a life...I pray for those who actually graduated UNC-Chapel Hill, that you do not have a degree from there as it would devalue theirs.

M Smith....I did graduate from UNC in 1998. Thank you very much! I am very passionate about the university, and "yes" we got beat down on Saturday, but don't sit here and run your mouth and not expect to get it in return. It's January, and mark my word...this team will rebound. I'm sure you did not graduate from Dook/NCSU or WFU. You might have your GED and maybe even a college degree from Gaston College. Pray all you want...Dook still is not winning the ACC or a National Championship this year....

A female manager was trampled at UNLV and required basic medical attention after that incident. I agree that Roy should have stayed on the court with the scrubs, but the decision to pull the team was the right one.

Looks like your degree has devalued UNC-Chapel Hill degrees for everyone else...you really need to get a life if you're this upset when someone posts comments in a newspaper article. By the way, Anonymous, I'm not a Duke fan and could care less if they or UNC wins the ACC, but when you spell Duke "Dook" it doesn't insult their fans or alumni...it just shows you acquired your UNC-Chapel Hill degree without knowing how to spell a proper noun.

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About this blog

David Scott has been with the Observer for 28 years and has written about ACC, SEC and other college sports in the Charlotte region. He covers Wake Forest, South Carolina and college soccer for the Observer and (Raleigh) News & Observer.

J.P. Giglio covers the ACC for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1997, and the Observer.

Andrew Carter covers the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Observer and News & Observer.

Laura Keeley covers the Duke Blue Devils for the Observer and News & Observer. Follow her on Twitter.

Chip Alexander covers the Carolina Hurricanes and college football for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1979, and the Observer.

Luke DeCock has worked for The News & Observer since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist for the Observer and News & Observer in August 2008.

Tim Crothers is an author and former senior writer at Sports Illustrated who is joining the sports staff to write a regular column during the rest of the college basketball season.